Social media companies are driving the visibility of fights, weapons and violent threats on children’s screens, according to a new report.
A report commissioned by The Youth Endowment Fund (YEF) of 10,000 children aged 13 to 17 years old in England and Wales to explore their experiences with violence, both online and offline. The findings reveal that 70% of teenage children have encountered real-life violent content online in the past year.
Teenagers are frequently exposed to violent content pushed by social media companies. Among those who reported seeing such material, 25% said they found it because social media platforms promoted it to them through features like ‘Newsfeed’, ‘Stories’ and ‘For You’ recommendations. Only 6% actively searched for it.
Half said they saw it on someone else’s profile or feed, and over a third (35%) had the content directly shared with them.
TikTok and X users report the most violence
TikTok is the platform where teenage children are most likely to encounter real-life violent content, with 30% of all 13 to 17-year-olds and 44% of TikTok users reporting exposure to violence on the platform.
While X is less commonly used by teenagers, it ranks second after TikTok in terms of the proportion of its users exposed to real-life violence. Although only 22% of the teenage children said they use X, 43% of those users reported seeing violent content in the past 12 months.
Following TikTok and X, Facebook (33%), Snapchat (32%), and Instagram (31%) also have significant numbers of teenage users exposed to violent content.
These findings highlight the responsibility of social media companies in regulating exposure to violent content. Platforms that utilise algorithms to promote content to users are particularly impactful, as this method increases the likelihood of exposure compared to direct messaging, where violent content is less frequently shared.
The YEF’s research also sheds light on the type of violence teenage children are seeing on social media. The most common form is footage of physical fights between young people, with over half of teenage children reporting they’ve seen such videos. Over a third reported witnessing content involving weapons, while a similar proportion encountered material featuring ‘gang activity’. Additionally, 29% have seen posts glorifying attacks on young people, and 27% of all teenage children have encountered sexually violent content or threats.
The impact of seeing weapons online
Among the teenage children who encountered weapons-related content, 74% saw content featuring knives, equating to 26% of all 13 to 17-year-olds in England and Wales. Specifically, 44% encountered content featuring kitchen knives, while 34% saw zombie knives or machetes, which translates to 1 in 9 of all teenage children.
The vast majority of those who saw weapons on social media said it made them feel less safe in their local areas, while 68% said it made them less likely to go out. Over half said that seeing weapons online made them feel that carrying weapons was a normal part of everyday life. Alarmingly, nearly two-fifths said it made them more likely to carry a weapon themselves.
Jon Yates, CEO of the Youth Endowment Fund, said: “Social media companies can no longer pay lip service to the real-life violence that children face on their platforms. This content is not what children want to see, yet most are exposed to it and it’s having an impact. To ensure the well-being of our children, we must limit their exposure to potentially harmful content on social media.”
